190 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Percival, will receive my opinions with less ob- 

 jection, ir I have erred, I have done it in hon- 

 orable companv. 



I shall be very glad if the foreijoing olwerva- 

 tionshave suflicieiit influence on the dniry-men, 

 to induce them to chani^e their utensils. Very 

 commodious vessels may be made of cast iron, 

 equally well lltted for the purpo-os of the dairy, 

 which will not be expensive, and will bo more 

 innocent and cleanly. 



From the Connecticut Courant. 



Useful but disagreeable hints on the approach of 



a AVti) Year. 



There is much good sense in the adage " fre- 

 quent reckoning makes good neighbors." Settle- 

 ments, however, are often postponed, because 

 there is some trilling disagreement between the 

 parties; and to look over old accounts is a dry 

 undertaking. Add to this our propensity to put 

 off 'till to-morrow, and the too prevalent gross- 

 ness of feelings regarding the high obligations 

 of justice, and \vc find the root, from whence 

 spring many bitter quarrels and lawsuits. Where- 

 fore, gentle reader, hear the voice of exi>eri- 

 enco. 



Fix on tlie first day of January., every year., as 

 a date, beyond which no controversy of yours 

 shall remain unsettled " so far as in you lies." 



If your books are back, take care to have 

 them " posted up" by that day. 



If you find any person's account open, which 

 has been paid, balance, it. 



Where the balance is against yon, saddle your 

 horse and go directly off and pay it — in money 

 if you have it — if not, give your note. 



Take especial care when your good easy 

 neighbor, confiding in your honesty, has let his 

 claim lie more than six years, not lo permit that 

 plea of rascals, " outlawed," to reduce you first 

 to doubt whether it is due, and finally to offer 

 to settle it, " if he will throw in a trifle." Pray, 

 why did you not pay him before, when his wit- 

 nesses were living, and the facts fresh ? Such 

 claims ought to be paid with interest, and that 

 without delay, lest you die and the executor re- 

 fuse to pay. 



Where the balance is in your favor, do not, 

 by any moans neglect such a claim. 'Tis true, 

 your neighbor may have sai<l "he would take 

 110 advantage :" but he may die, or forget, or 

 find on seeing your bill that " it is larger 

 than you expected," and he may think you have 

 omitted some credit. Vou do not meet on even 

 ground. 



Is there any matter that lies between you and 

 any one o( doubtful honesty? I beg of you to see 

 well to that. Such a man, especially if poor, 

 will have a heavy claim against your estate., in 

 the event of your decease. Get a discharge 

 from him, and call it even, though he may owe 

 you a trifle. A release from such persons is as 

 good as bank stock. 



Finally, let not the light o( another new year's 

 morning rise upon you, until you shall havr re- 

 mitted " post paid" all you owe to proprietors of 

 ■iicrcspapcrs. Those are honorary claims, espe- 

 cially if due out of the state. Should the press 

 stop for want ot (unds, the land will soon grow 

 dark. You expect a pleasant song from them 

 on that moniinc: — but how can they sing if de- 

 pressed with debt? They must " hang their 

 liarps on the willows," unless "cheered hy vour 

 corn and your oil." AIUSTIDES. 



THE FARMER. 



i:O.^TO.\ .—.'SATURIJA\\ J AX. 1), 1823. 



O.N S.WI.HG A.VU MAKIKG THE MOST OF MANURE. 



{Conthiue^ from pn^e 175.) 

 • In our last number on this subject we adverted to 

 Water and E.irth, 33 the principal absorbents or 

 treasurers of those particles or atoms, which constitute 

 manure, or what is the same thing, the food of plants. 

 We shall now proceed to further observations on those 

 substances, considered as absorbents, treasurers, or re- 

 ceptacles of manure. 



Water in its purest state, when it has been distilled, 

 or filtrated throug^h sand, still retains somewhat of the 

 food of plants. Its component particles, oxygen and 

 hydrogen, under certain circumstances, are seized by 

 vegetables while in their growing state, and converted 

 into the products which form the chemical constituents 

 of all regetables.* But pure water forms a meagre 

 diet for plants. It may support life in vegetables, and 

 some plants will maintain a feeble growth with very 

 little nourishment excepting what is afforded to thcin 

 by pure water and air. But when water is impregnat- 

 ed with certain salts and gasses, particularly such as 

 are evolved during the fermentation and decomposition 

 of vegetable and animal substances, it becomes what is 

 called Liacri) mascre. Urine, or the stale of all ani- 

 mals is water holding in solution certain salts and other 

 substances, which are the essence of manure, or the 

 food of plants, in a concentrated state. Fresh urine is 

 a very powerful and efficacious manure, when properly 

 applied, but if not mixed with solid matter it slionld 

 be diluted with water, as when pure it contains too 

 large a qaantity of animal matter to form a proper fluid 

 nourishment for absorption by the roots of plants. — 

 Urine is lessened in value, but its useful qualities are 

 not entirely lost, by putrescence. During putrefaction 

 the greatest part of. the soluble animal matter that 

 urine contains is destroyed, it should therefore be used 

 as fresh as possible, with the precaution of diluting it 

 with water, or mixing it with earth. Putrid urine, 

 however, is a valuable manure. It abounds in ammo- 

 niacal salts ; and though less active than fresh urine is 

 still very efficacious. t 



.\ccording to some writers, and practical farmers, the 

 value of the urine of cattle, if properly preserved and 

 applied to the purposes of vegetation, is greater than 

 that of all the dung which the same animals would 

 yield ! A letter from Charles Alexander, near Peebles, 

 in Scotland, addressed to Sir John Sinclair, in \i',l2, 

 for publication, contains much valuable information on 

 this subject. " This intelligent farmer had long been 

 impressed with the great importance of the urine of 

 cattle as a manure, and he set about to discover by a 

 long and well conducted series of experiments, the best 

 method of collecting and applying it. He began by 

 digging a pit contiguous to the feeding stall, but dis- 

 tinct altogether from that which was appropriated for 

 the reception of the dung. The dimensions of this pit, 

 according to his own account, were 36 feet square, and 

 four feet deep, surrounded on all sides by a wall ; and 

 the solid contents were 192 yards. Having selected 

 the nearest spot where he could find loamy earth, and 

 this he always took from the surface of some field un- 

 der cultivation, he proceeded to fill it ; and found that 

 with three men and two horses, he could easily accom- 

 plish 2(! cubic yards per day ; and the whole expense 

 of transporting the earth did not exceed 4/. \6s. ster- 

 ling, [about 22 dollars.] When the work was com- 



»tn 



* See an account of M. Braconncfs erperiments, 

 . 134. 

 1 See Z)aryV Agciculturai Chemistry. 



plete he levelled the surface of the heap in a line 

 the sewer, which conducted the urine from the intfl^ 

 of the building, on purpose that it might be distribB*"' 

 with regularity, and might saturate the whole fn 

 to bottom. The quantity conveyed to it he estii 

 at about 800 gallons ; but as this calculation 

 founded partly on conjecture, for he measured not 

 liquer, it will be better and more instructive to fuj»^" 

 and proceed on bata that are certain and incol 

 lertible. The urine was supplied by fourteen cs 

 weighing about 34 stone [476 lbs.] each, and 

 there for five months on fodder and turnips. Thet 

 tents of the pit produced 288 loads, allowing two « 

 yards to be taken out in three carts ; and he spreai 

 of these on each acre, so that this urine in five mon -■' 

 and from fourteen cattle, produced a compost suffici 

 for the fertilization of seven acres of land. He iti 

 furthir, that he had tried this experiment for ten yes 

 and had indiscriminately used iu the same field eil 

 the rotted cow dung or the saturated earth ; and in 

 stages of the crop be had never been able to find 

 1» rceptible difference. But what is still more wont 

 ful, he found his compost lasted in its effects as m; 

 years as his best putrescent manure ; and he therel 

 boldly avers that a load of each is of equivalent val 

 " It appears, then, that in five months each cow i 

 charges urine, which, when absorbed by loam, furni 

 IS manure of tho richest quality and most durable 

 fi-cts for half an acre of ground. The dung pit, wh 

 contained all the cxcremcntitious matter of the fo 

 toen cattle, as well as the litter employed ia bedd: 

 them, and which was kept separate for Uie purpose 

 the experiment, only furnished, during the same pi 

 oil, 240, and these, at the same rate, could only n 

 ;.ii.-c six acres. The aggregate value of the uri 

 therefore, when comf ared with that of the dung, » 

 in the ratio of 7 to 6 ; so that we are borne out by thi 

 premises in this extraordinary inference, that the j 

 I rescible liquor, which in this province [Nova Scot 

 and under the management of our farmers, is wasi 

 and annihilated as far as regards any useful purpos 

 is iutrinsically worth more than the dung, a? an effit 

 cions and permanent dressing ; and if we take ir 

 consideration that this latter manure is not treated wi 

 any skill and judgment, it will not seem surprisii; 

 that the culture of white crops has never been carri 

 here to any extent, since we have despised and nc 

 lected the only means of creating them." 



AVe apprehend that the farmers of the United Stat 

 are not, generally speaking, any more so! 

 the urine of their cattle to account for 

 those of Nova Scotia, There are some 

 however, who have taken measures to secure this s«: 

 stance, and to apply it to useful purposes. Mr. Robe 

 Smith, of Baltimore, has his stables constructed in sut| 

 a manner that all the liquid discharges of his cattle ai 

 conducted, together with the wash of the barn-yan 

 into a cisteni, pumped into a hogshead and applied i 

 a liquid state to the soil which it is wished to manure. 

 This mode of making use of this substance islikcwisi 

 recommended iu the Code of Agriculture as follows :- 

 "The advantages of irrigating grass lands with col 

 urine almost exceed belief. Mr. Harley, of Glasgow 

 (who keeps a large dairy in that town,) by using coTi 

 urine, cuts some small fields of grass six times, and fhil 

 aver.age of each cutting is fifteen inches in length"! 

 There are disadvantages, however, attending this modi 

 of applying this powerful manure. It must be appliei 

 soon after it is formed, or oftentimes the putrefactivf " 

 proccs? will commence, and deprive it of a part of it' 

 efficacy. And as urine is of a scorching quality, it i" 



b. 



le United Stat 

 olicitous to tu J 

 r nianure, th; I 

 me cultivator 1 



( 



* Letters of Agricola. 



t .See A". E. Farmer, A'o. C,p. 



44. 



